Population 1900
Produced by the SASI group (Sheffield) and Mark Newman (Michigan)
The world population tripled between
1500 and 1900, to an estimated 1564
million. In that period, the populations
of the United Kingdom and the
United States increased more than
ten-fold, the population of the
Netherlands increased five-fold. For
most of this time the Netherlands
were known as the United Provinces,
whilst neither the United Kingdom,
nor the United States, had been
formed.
In 1900 much of the world was under
imperial rule. New territorial
boundaries were being defined and
contested. Today’s borders of Africa,
shown in this map, were mostly drawn
at the Treaty of Versaille in 1919.
This map shows the distribution of the world’s population
in 1900.
TWENTY HIGHEST POPULATIONS IN 1900
Technical notes
• Data source: Angus Maddison, 2003
• The contemporary political boundaries shown
differ from those in 1900.
• See website for further information.
Territory
China
India
United States
Germany
Russian Federation
Japan
Indonesia
France
United Kingdom
Italy
Value
400
234
76
54
50
44
43
41
37
34
Rank
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
population in millions
Territory
Ukraine
Bangladesh
Poland
Pakistan
Spain
Brazil
Viet Nam
Nigeria
Turkey
Mexico
WORLD POPULATION
Value
28
28
25
24
19
18
16
16
14
14
1400
Regional population (millions)
Land area
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
Year
“It has been stated that, as men progress, they shall be able to travel in airships and reach any part of the world
in a few hours.”
Mahatma Ghandi, 1909
www.worldmapper.org
© Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan)
Map 009